Open Letter from Conservatives to the #TXLEGE

To triage this ongoing disaster of a legislative session, fourteen conservative groups have released the following open letter to individual members of the Texas Legislature:

May 10, 2013

Honorable Members of the Texas Legislature: 

The Lone Star State has become a model of economic growth through careful adherence to

thoughtful fiscal discipline.However, there are some trying to push the state in the directionof more government, more spending, and more taxes.

We strongly urge the Legislature not to deviate from what has been a highly successful path.

Put simply: the Legislature should neither exceed the state's spending limit—by any amount—nor should dollars be removed from the state's Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) to pay for ongoing government expenses or new programs.

California stands as an example for us. In the 1980s, California's economy was thriving and tax receipts robust. Over the course of several decades, however, California lawmakers spent everything they had and ran up debt to boot. Today, the lusterless Golden State is no longer thought of as the nation’s economic powerhouse, and its finances are in notoriously poor shape.

Texas must avoid becoming like California.

Ensuring that Texas does not suffer this fate begins with prudent decision-making on the Economic Stabilization Fund. The ESF was established to address shortfalls in the budget arising from economic downturns. By allowing that fund to go untapped in recent years and maintaining a high level of liquidity, the state now enjoys the strongest possible bond rating— a tangible benefit to taxpayers.

Drawing out dollars for expenses that could (and should) otherwise be budgeted from General Revenues not only reduces liquidity and signals irresponsibility, but sets a dangerous precedent.

Similarly, in a time when revenues have increased more than 30 percent, lawmakers voting to exceed the state's spending limit put the Lone Star State on a collision course with future economic turbulence.

With the current administration in Washington doubling down on high taxes, increased debt, and downgraded credit ratings, it is more important than ever that Texas not downgrade itself.

Conservatives recognize that Texas has set a high standard and must continue to follow a

higher path. Legislators should reject calls to raid the ESF, and stand firm against “busting the

cap.”

Signatories:

60 Plus Association

ALEC

Americans for Prosperity—Texas

Americans for Tax Reform

Council for Citizens Against Government Waste

Grassroots America We the People

Institute for Policy Innovation

National Taxpayers Union

Texas Eagle Forum

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

Texas Legislature’s TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee

Texas Public Policy Action

Texas Public Policy Foundation

Young Conservatives of Texas

 Cahnman's Musings endorses this letter.

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CNBC: Will Bankrupt California City Escape Pensions?!?

A great segment from CNBC on the ongoing cautionary example that is California:

Highlights:

•  Public Pensions are untouchable under California law.

• CALPERS told Stockton there was no emergency.

• Stockton is already $1 Billion in the hole to CALPERS.

• Los Angeles' pension and health care costs are up 150% in the past decade and will consume 25% of the city budget by 2017.

• Since the bottom of the crisis, tax collection in California is actually 11 billion higher AND education is down; the difference is Public Pensions and Health Care.

 (Sidenote: CALPERS is also in bed deep with Agenda 21.)

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In other California related cautionary tales, this piece from Victor Davis Hanson is GREAT.

Update: Looks like Chuck DeVore has more.

Update II: Breitbart has more.


Update III:  Eek!!!

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California's Conservative Migration to Texas

 
One common refrain we hear is that the migration of Californians to Texas is a bad thing because TexansDon'tWantCalifornia'sLibreals(TM).  We've never found that argument compelling, especially since the 2010 election results made clear that the liberals in California have stayed put.  When Glenn Beck, Chuck DeVore, and myself have all moved to the same state in the past five years, it seems to indicate a trend.

Yesterday, we spoke to Chuck DeVore who pointed us to this poll:

 With its economic troubles, California has been losing people in droves. The plurality of those migrants have moved to Texas, as many as 70,000 in 2011 and 60,000 in 2012. Given this influx of new residents, we are fortunate to have at times asked our respondents whether they have moved to Texas from California, and though the actual number of these people is but a small subsample of our surveys, we have enough respondents to make two broad conclusions. First, these newcomers, on average, tend to be conservative. Pooling data from the May 2012 and February 2013 UT/Tribune surveys, we found that 57 percent of these California transplants consider themselves to be conservative, while only 27 percent consider themselves to be liberal (a fair guess as to the margin of error is somewhere around +/- 7 percentage points). Second, these new Texans aren’t rushing to find homes in the state’s urban centers: 55 percent are heading to the suburbs, the rest evenly dividing themselves between rural and urban locations.

Bottom Line: For economic refugees to Texas from California, conservatives outnumber liberals by more than two to one.  This is a good thing.  The Trib's wrap up says it well:

So while some may want to perceive the wave of Californians coming to Texas as part of the broader demographic trends that might eventually turn Texas purple, and then blue, the data collected to date suggest that Perry’s pitch appears to be hitting a chord with Californians who wear cowboy boots instead of Birkenstocks.

You can hear Governor Perry explain this phenomenon here.

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How to Kick the Left's Ass in Travis County

With the emergence of Battleground Texas, a lot of ink has been spilled about the left's efforts to flip Texas.  The threat is real, but we can beat it.  One key is to make the left play defense on territory it thinks it owns.

Cahnman's Musings has been a resident of Travis County for five and a half years.  We've always found the reports of it's liberalism, much like Mark Twain's demise, to be greatly exaggerated.  Before living in Travis County, we grew up in NYC and spend half a decade in and around Los Angeles.  Cahnman's Musings has seen places hopelessly up their ass with progressivism.  Travis county ain't it.

One thing we've always observed is that there are a lot of people in Travis County who are liberty minded in a general sense, but don't follow politics closely and don't vote.  Those folks are the key.  One example is the fraternities and sororities at U.T.  The Greek system is under assault from the permanent U.T. bureaucracy, and kids in the Greek system don't buy into progressivism in the same way other U.T. students do.  If you take 20 to 100 active members per house and multiply it by 20 houses, all of a sudden you're talking about meaningful vote totals.

And that's just one example.

In that spirit, Cahnman's Musings offers the following outline to put the left on defense in Travis County:

• Online Video -- This is an inexpensive way to push information.  Online video allows us to go around media gatekeepers.  The key is to use humor to capture attention.

• Identify, Register, and Turnout New Texans -- What do Glenn Beck, Chuck DeVore, and myself have in common?!?  We're all economic refugees from blue states, and we're all conservatives.  Economic refugees to Texas are a self-selected group.  The people moving to Texas aren't liberals.  As Governor Perry told Glenn Beck last week, "if they're takers who want government to take care of them from cradle to grave, they're going to stay in California."

• Follow the Money -- Big government inevitably begets boondoggles.  Nobody likes boondoggles.  On a related note, there could be a major scandal breaking in San Antonio.

• Make the Villains Household Names -- There are plenty of potential villains in Travis County.  In the spirit of Alinsky's thirteenth rule, Cahnman's Musings suggests raising these people's profile.  Personally, we'd start with this guy.

• Education -- We need to increase the economic literacy of average citizens.

Any effort to protect Texas from the left must include Travis County.  There are a lot of potential voters here.  In the short term, we can put the left on defense; over the longer haul, we can kick their ass.

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Governor Rick Perry's MUST HEAR interview with Glenn Beck

Governor Rick Perry, fresh off CPAC, gave a great interview to Glenn Beck:



Highlights:

• On the Boy Scouts: "Promotes young men to the values that most people in this country aspire to."

• Education:
• Perry stood up to Common Core YEARS ago!
• Supports all of Dan Patrick's efforts.
• Attacks on Homeschooling won't stand in the state of Texas.

• Finance:
• The first unwinding of the Global economy will be the failure of a foreign sovreign.
• "We are in the process...of bringing Gold that belongs to the state of Texas back."
• "We're in the conversation with the legislature phase."
• It costs the State of Texas 8 basis points to store it out of state.
• If we own it "then I'll suggest to you that it's not someone else's determination whether we can take posession of" an asset we own.

• Employers from states that restrict firearms "will be welcome in the state of Texas."

•  When recruiting businesses from California: "We're recruiting people who believe in freedom; if they're takers who want government to take care of them from cradle to grave, they're going to stay in California."

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Mediterreanian Update Tuesday: When Will Califonia Follow Cyprus?!?

The other day, the tiny Mediterranean nation of Cyprus attempted to confiscate between 7 and 10 percent of all bank deposits in the country.

Considering that the situation in Greece is worse than Cyprus and, at least in some respects, California is worse off than Greece, we wonder how long it will be until someone proposes something similar in California; California has already seriously considered taxing people who move out of state.

Sure, it sounds crazy now, but let this situation unfold for a few more years.

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UPDATE: California Welfare Scam Parody

Three months ago, we brought you this shocking video of a Calfornia Welfare recipient; while everything she says in the original video is true, it turns out that that interview was the companion piece to this hilarious parody:

Welcome to America in Barack Obama's second term

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WHY Californians move to Texas in Three Minutes

My goodness, it can take 3 FRIGGIN' YEARS to get a building permit in California:

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Texas Employers Need to Promote Economic Literacy

One criticism I often hear about Texas recruiting businesses in California is that we don't want a bunch of liberals moving here and voting in liberal policies.  That's true, but Texas also needs capital.  The easiest capital to recruit is in Blue States.  That means the capital Texas needs is often accompanied by an economically-illiterate work force.  To help maintain Texas' economic climate, Texas employers owe it to themselves to increase their employees' economic literacy.

In 2012, Mitt Romney won the overwhelming support of small business owners; unfortunately, Obama won small business employees.  If employees of small businesses voted the same way as small business owners, Mitt Romney would be President.  When employer taxes went up at the beginning of the year, that tax increase was voted in by their own employees.

Left-wing politics takes hold when 'the Rich' are seen as some distant entity.  It's a lot harder to demonize someone if you know them personally.  For Texas employers, that means your employees will be less likely to vote in bad tax and regulatory policies if they see you being hurt, as opposed to some Wall St. fat cat.

Many employers will object that they don't have the time or they don't need another responsibility.  That's fine, no one expects you to teach Phd. level dissertations; just the basics on government spending, taxation, and regulatory policy.  Cahnman's Musings will roll out some ideas to help Texas employers accomplish this task in a cost-effective and efficient manner in the coming weeks.

Texas' business climate isn't an accident.  It is the result of prudent decision making over the past decade.  As a result, Texas has become an attractive location for capital fleeing hostile regimes.  While that capital is a very good thing, an economically-illiterate workforce often accompanies it.  Texas employers owe it to their bottom line to help sever this link.

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Willisms: Texas Getting Under California's Skin

Willisms a fun piece detailing how Governor Perry's advertising pitch got under the skin of Marxists in California; money quote:

Doesn't that just epitomize the difference between how things are done in California and Texas? Texas can take 24 thousand private bucks, tell its story, and generate this enormous amount of publicity on social media platforms, in newspapers, on local news stations across California, on Bill O'Reilly, at water coolers, and elsewhere, likely all worth many millions of dollars in advertising bang.

Isn’t this just a perfect example of how all too many California politicians think you have to spend your way to success; meanwhile, Texas does things smarter, better, at a lower cost.

Read the whole thing here.

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American C.E.O: Texas Beats California

The American C.E.O is a (pretty cool looking) blog I hadn't heard of until today.  It's mostly advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and C.E.O's.  Today, he has a post on the economic contrast between Texas and California; money quote:

So why Texas and specifically why Austin? I have traveled fairly extensively across the U.S. and have spent time in all the major technology hubs. At one time or another I have considered living in many of them. I have been fortunate enough in my career that financially my family and I could “afford” to live wherever we like. For me it comes down to three major reasons: cost, attitude and time.
....

A big factor is that the regulatory environment in Texas is stable and predictable. Industry isn’t punished for succeeding, but rewarded with a fair and just tax structure.California’s insistence on raising taxes on its most successful citizens recently will only drive more intellectual capital and dollars out of the state.
....

That’s why I am in Austin and in Texas.California missed out on the successful businesses I have built. By the way, my wife – Dr. Cathy Fulton – ended up creating the products that led to the success of our Austin-based company NetQoS, which employed more than 250 people and was acquired by CA Technologies in 2009 for nine figures.

Read the whole thing here.

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